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Bela Guttmann was a man caught between cultures. Born in Budapest in 1899, son of two Hungarian dancers, Bela soon realized there was more money to be made in football than in dancing. He began playing in the 1910’s becoming Hungarian champion with MTK Hungaria at the age of 22. The rampant anti-Semitism of the period forced Guttmann to move to Vienna and become a player and founding member of the first all Jewish sports club in the world–Hakoah Wien.
When I started writing the screenplay there were no books available about Guttmann in Portugal. I purchased his biography in the only country where it was available—Brazil—and I began a writing relationship with its author, Detlev Claussen. I still asked my producer if a known Portuguese screenwriter friend of mine could join the project and make it stronger. She said no.
Bela Guttmann went on a tour of America with Hakoah Wien, and the money he made playing football (soccer) in America was so much that Bela stayed and began playing football for multiple American teams. He retired at the age of 30 and became a nightlife impresario in New York City. His speakeasy was so successful Bela rubbed shoulders with Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, and the big movie stars of the roaring 20’s. In ten years Bela went from being a poor Hungarian dancer to an American tycoon.
Eventually my Portuguese producer hired my copywriting services. Copywriting was my day job, but I knew that the production of the “Mata Hari” mini series had left her bankrupted. Torn between wanting to be nice and a price I knew she could not afford, I decided to write the marketing package she required for a fraction of my usual price. The graphic designer also agreed to do it for a fraction of the price because we were working in the same company, and my boss thought the Guttmann project could be good for everyone.
With the Wall Street crash of 1929, Bela Guttmann lost half a million dollars, five million by today’s standards. With his friends, money, and speakeasy gone, Bela got back to Europe where he became one of the first full time football coaches in history. Football was not a professional sport yet, and many of the blue prints of the modern game and the jobs associated with it were laid out by Bela and the “Hungarian School” during the 30’s. When the Second World War broke, Bela found himself in a Swiss concentration camp. He escaped mysteriously leaving behind his brother and only friend to die of starvation. That decision would haunt Bela for the rest of his life.
One year after I began working in the project, a Portuguese publisher surprisingly decided to publish Detlev Claussen’s Guttmann biography in Portugal and of all the people they could invite to present the biography the publisher chose precisely my friend, the screenwriter I wanted to have joined me in the writing of the screenplay. There was a big revelation in that re-edition. The Portuguese publisher found where Guttmann hid after he escaped the concentration camp–a barbershop basement in Budapest. Guttmann met his wife there, and historical records will only find him again in 1947 coaching a Romanian club in exchange for vegetables to eat. It’s amazing how a man who had the world at his feet in New York was being paid with food.
After coaching several teams including Italian giants AC Milan, Guttmann got to Benfica where he discovered a young Mozambican player called Eusebio. In one of the most beautiful Cinderella stories in football history, they won two European champions cup finals being the second one against the mighty Real Madrid of Alfredo Di Stefano.
My producer presented my project to the National Film Fund just to see financing denied–Paulo Branco had presented a project about Guttmann and Eusebio.
Bela Guttmann was fired from Benfica by a shortsighted president. On the way out he cursed the club, “You will never win a European cup without me”. And it was so. Since 1963 Benfica has been to eight European finals and lost them all. Eusebio still tried to erase the curse by praying at Guttmann’s grave in Vienna, but it didn’t work.
Guttmann and I both gave our best to the projects we believed in. I learned with Bela Guttmann three things—how difficult it is to work in Portugal, never let go of your dreams even if they change with life, there are ups and downs but it ain’t over until it’s over.